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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/jewsinunitedstatOOIand 



JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES 
ARMY AND NAVY 



BY 

LEWIS LANDES 

Executive Secretary Army and Navy Department, Council of Young Men's 
Hebrew and Kindred Associations 



[Reprint from American Jewish Year Book 5677] 






* * 






JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY AND NAVY 

BY LEWIS LANDES * 

As the question of preparedness is before the public, and as 
the Council of Young Men's Hebrew iissociations extend 
their activities to the soldiers and to the sailors, it is naturally 
of interest to know how many Jews there are in our Army and 
Navy. The Jews constitute only two per cent of the country's 
population ; what percentage do they form in the military and 
naval service ? For the past four months the Statistics Bureau 
of the American Jewish Committee, in conjunction with the 
Council of Young Men's Hebrew and Kindred Associations, 
has been endeavoring to answer this question. 

This is the first attempt that has been made to secure such 
figures, and the task has been a difficult one. It is not half 
completed. 

The method employed was as follows : 

A letter was written to all regimental post commanders 
throughout the Army, asking them to send the names of Jews 
in their commands; and a similar letter was written to the 
commanding officers of ships in the Navy, asking the names of 
the men of Jewish faith on the ships. 

These answers, of course, were purely voluntary. 

Accordingly 757 letters were sent to such commanding 
officers, 383 to the Army and 364 to the Navy. Of the total 
number of 757 letters sent, 181 replies have to date been 
received from the Army officers and 149 from the NavalJ 
officers. In very many instances these answers have been 
incomplete. 

* Executive Secretary Army and Navy Department Council of 
Y. M. H. and Kindred Associations. 



In the following resume, which gives the results and esti- 
mates thus ascertained, the different branches of the service 
are arranged not according to the military requirements, but 
according to the larger numbers as secured by the Statistical 
Bureau. 

1. Infantry. 5. Signal Corps. 

2. Coast Artillery. 6. Engineers. 

3. Cavalry. 7. Hospital Corps. 

4. Field Artillery. 8. Ordnance Corps. 

Infantry 

At present there are 30 regiments of Infantry, one regiment 
consisting of colored men. Our estimate is therefore based on 
29 Infantry organizations. 

Eeplies were received from 12 regimental commanding 
officers with a total of 729 names of Jewish men. The average 
for a regiment would be about 1, although in many instances 
the figures given amounted to more than 100 to a regiment. 
The estimated result would, therefore, total 1709 Jews in the 
29 Infantry regiments. 

Coast Artilleey 
There are 170 companies of Coast Artillery. Figures were 
secured from 59 companies with a total of 377 Jews; the 
average would, therefore, be about 6 to a company and a total 
of 1020 for 170 companies. 

Cavalry 

There are 15 regiments of Cavalry, one being colored. 

Our estimate is, therefore, based on 14 organizations. Of 
14 commanding officers, 6 replied as having 336 Jews. The 
average secured, therefore, would be about 56 to a regiment, 
or an estimated total of 784 for the 14 reo^iments. 



Field Aetilleey 

Of the 6 regiments of this branch of the service, 5 organiza- 
tions sent complete returns, with a total of 188 Jews. That 
gives an average of 38 to an organization and a total of 228. 

Signal, Hospital, Engineers and Ordnance Corps did not 
send in complete returns, and for that reason no estimate can 
as 3^et be presented. 

According to the available records, the number of men 
serving with the different military organizations of the country 
is given below, and directly opposite is placed the estimated 
number of Jews in these branches of the service. 

War Department Estimate of Jews 
June 1915 January 1916 

Infantry 28,998 1,709 

Coast Artillery 17,901 1,020 

Cavalry 12,82B 784 

Field Artillery 4,992 228 

Total 66,182 3,821 

These figures do not include the Porto Eico regiment and 
the Philippine scouts. 

It will, therefore, be noted that these estimates and the 
figures given by the War Department show that Jews serving 
in the Army amount to six per cent of the total enlistment. 

It may be asked, if the War Department does not keep a 
record of Jews, how can the commanding officer reply to our 
question ? 

In investigating this matter, it was found that in nearly all 
cases notices were placed on the bulletin board of barracks, 
with a request that Jews send in their names to the office. In 
many cases the men failed to do this; one company in the 
vicinity of New York City is known to have over eight per cent 
of Jewish men in it, yet only one sent in his name to the office. 



It can readily be seen, therefore, that the figures upon which 
our estimates are based are probably much below the real 
figures. 

According to information furnished by officers, the actual 
number of Jews who are serving on 128 ships is 844. These 
figures do not include the men on the ships of the dreadnought 
type in the Navy, for which no estimate can be made. It, 
nevertheless, appears that there are 4665 Jewish officers and 
men serving in our moderate military establishment. 






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